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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794538">adrogantia</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/hujiao/pseuds/hujiao'>hujiao</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shall We Date?: Obey Me!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, mild chapter 20 spoilers</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 18:07:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22794538</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/hujiao/pseuds/hujiao</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>(n.) 'adrogantia'<br/>1. An assuming, presumption; arrogance, conceitedness.<br/>2. Pride, haughtiness, insolence.<br/>3. Obstinacy, stubbornness.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>71</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. command</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>i like lucifer, i really do. he's a dick but he's very intriguing. so i'm particularly dissatisfied with how task 20-14 turned out.<br/>my mc is named cian.</p>
    </blockquote><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>You lower your fist, and his arm falls to his side. He almost struggles against it, surprise and anger clouding his face.</p><p>“Don’t touch me,” you repeat, trembling slightly. “Don’t you fucking dare.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i like lucifer, i really do. he's a dick but he's very intriguing. so i'm particularly dissatisfied with how task 20-14 turned out.<br/>edit: now in 2nd person :-)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>With all of them crowded up in the attic, the party had become rather cramped. It’s hard for you to hear yourself think over the voices of six brothers yelling in unison and clamouring for your attention.</p><p>Not that you could blame them. </p><p>You're scheduled to return home the next day, after a year of some of the most extraordinary experiences you've had in your life. As your year in the Devildom had drawn to a close, you had made sure to spend as much time with each brother as possible, per Lucifer’s request.</p><p>You can’t help but feel a little suffocated, nonetheless, now that everyone is squished together in Belphie’s former attic room, amidst old junk and abandoned furniture.</p><p>You hear Belphie calling you, and you glance down to find him looking up at you curiously from his spot on the floor with Beel. “Where are you going?”</p><p>“Just taking a breather,” you assure him. Beside him, Beel crunches on chips, listening intently as Satan lectures them all on lost texts. Asmo leans against his shoulder, looking very much like he’d rather be asleep. On the other side of the room, Levi’s hooked up his game console, and he seems to be kicking Mammon’s ass at whatever they’re playing.</p><p>“Hmm... make sure you come back right away, okay?” Belphie smiles brightly up at you before resuming his conversation with his brothers, in which you finds the opportunity to slip away.</p><p>You descend down the twisting attic stairs, hearing the hubbub behind you fade to a jumble of muffled background noise. Once you reach the main corridor, you head over to the balcony, leaning over the railing to heave a sigh. You rub your eyes.</p><p>You can’t believe it’s over. What a year it had been too.</p><p>Faint music catches your attention, floating her way from downstairs. You catch a few notes of a vaguely familiar tune, one that sends you right back to the beginning of the year. Curiosity overcomes you, and you find yourself drifting down the stairwell over to the library.</p><p>The door to Lucifer’s secret study is open, and the music comes from within. He hadn’t followed Beel up to the attic, after all.</p><p>
  <em> You wonder.</em>
</p><p>Lucifer likely wouldn’t care too much about your return home -- he had said so himself, that he didn't feel strongly about it either way -- but he wouldn’t have left the door ajar had he truly not wished to be disturbed.</p><p>Dreamlike, the music seems to draw you in. The candles on the chandelier flicker softly, casting a warm glow over the library. The small clock on the mantelpiece ticks softly to mark each passing beat of silence.</p><p>You jump when you hear him speak.</p><p>“Instead of lurking around outside, why not come in?”</p><p>It’s your cue to slip through the doorway, inside to where Lucifer sits at his desk, nursing an elegant-looking wineglass of Demonus. He doesn’t glance up when you enter, only presses the edge of the glass to his lips to take a long sip.</p><p>“It sounds like quite the party up in the attic,” Lucifer notes conversationally. He smirks. “Thanks to the fact that everyone else is busy up there, I get to stay here and enjoy my music in peace.”</p><p>He’s impossible, you think, twisting your fingers in the edge of your jacket. You instead sidle over to a bookshelf that’s more vintage Demonus bottles than books. Perhaps dealing with his brothers all the time warranted such a store of wine. </p><p>“What is this you’re listening to?” you venture at last.</p><p>“It’s nice, don’t you think? This is the cursed vinyl edition of <em> The Tale of the Seven Lords </em> soundtrack, which you managed to borrow from Levi for me.”</p><p>“It really is nice music, yeah,” you respond blandly.</p><p>“Yes. So you appreciate how good it is, then?” A beat of silence passes. He sets down his glass, rises from his desk to approach you. </p><p>“It was in this very room that I selected you for our exchange program,” he begins. “When I first welcomed you here, I was only doing it for Diavolo. I figured that if you managed to survive a year here without any incidents, that was really all I could ask for. And even if things didn’t go as planned, as long as I could keep you from getting eaten by any of the lower-level demons, everything would be alright.  That’s what I thought...</p><p>“But I somehow managed to choose a human who’s such a magnet for trouble that it almost defies belief, wouldn’t you say?” He scowls down at you. “There were times when I thought that I’d made a mistake by choosing you.”</p><p>You meets his gaze evenly. “How about now?”</p><p>“What do you think?” His expression relaxes back into an easy smile. “I’d say you know the answer. I made the right choice in selecting you for the program. You’ve kept me quite entertained over the past year. In fact, it’s probably the most entertained I’ve been in my whole life.”</p><p>You recall your first day at the Devildom, where Lucifer had played the part of gracious host.</p><p>The ball at Diavolo’s castle, where Lucifer had pulled you aside to dance and whisper threats in your ear.</p><p>The heart-to-heart you had in the library at the hands of his trifling brothers.</p><p>When you had viewed Lilith’s final memory, where he’d been softer and more tender than you could ever imagine. It’s still jarring to think someone as cold and impassive as Lucifer could show such genuine love.</p><p>So what is it he’s getting at right now?</p><p>“So then... have you done all you’ve set out to do here in the Devildom? No unfinished business? No loose ends?” He looks pointedly at you, the corners of lips still curved upwards.</p><p>The way he phrases it makes it seem like a loaded question.</p><p>“Well,” you say carefully, “I haven’t made a pact with you.”</p><p>“A pact, you say?” His expression is neutral now, unreadable. “I see. You’ve made pacts with all my brothers, which just leaves me...” He crosses his arms, steps closer, slowly, deliberately. He’s smiling now, but it’s anything but pleasant.</p><p>It’s the way a lion looks at a lamb.</p><p>“Do you really want to make a pact with me, truly?” He leans in, dangerously close. “I don’t know how my brothers felt about making a pact with you, but I am more than a name to be crossed off your list.” He frowns disapprovingly. “I can’t have you lumping me together with everyone else. That won’t do.”</p><p>This is the Avatar of Pride.</p><p>In a flash, two pairs of raven-dark wings unfurl behind him, and his casual suit and slacks are replaced by the dark garb of his true form. The ensuing rush of power causes the bottles to tinker against each other, the books to rattle on the shelves.</p><p>You stand your ground even as his wings curl around her, blotting out the room with their terrible beauty, and he faces you down, horns pointing sharply into the air. What an ostentatious show of power.</p><p>He narrows his eyes down at you. “You aren’t going to run? You’ve certainly got guts, don’t you? I’ve always found that aspect of you irritating. But as irritating as it is, it’s even more endearing.” He leans back, looks at her through hooded eyes. It’s only when his wings are folded neatly behind him that you allow yourself to breathe.</p><p>“Now listen, and listen well. I will not be your possession. I won’t belong to you. You will belong to me.” There it is again, that rush of power that makes you throat close, that fixes your arms to her sides. But more than anything, your heart seizes at his words, and you feels anger curl in her gut. “So what will it be? Will you make a pact with me?”</p><p>He extends a gloved hand.</p><p>“No,” you chokes out finally, struggling to wrench free. Your limbs feel sluggish; a single word is all you manage to say.</p><p>His eyes widen ever so slightly at your refusal, but it’s gone as quickly as it came.</p><p>“How unfortunate for you.” He grabs your wrist, smiles down at her in that same dangerous way. You can feel the flow of power between them, one that makes your hand tingle to your fingertips. “Because it’s too late now. As of this moment, you are <em> mine </em>.”</p><p>It feels dirty.</p><p>You feels your body untense as his power seeps from the room. Your limbs are free.</p><p>The first thing you do is wrench your wrist free from his grasp and you slap him open-palmed across the face.</p><p>It catches him off-guard. He takes a moment to register, before his temper flares.</p><p>“What did you just do to me?” He advances on you again, gaze burning, expression dark.</p><p>“Don’t touch me.” You lift a hand to shield herself. His rage is so great he seems to be shimmering at the outlines. There’s more red in his eyes than black.</p><p>Lucifer, rage-filled at your insolence, lifts a hand to smite you, pure, condensed power building in his palm. “You presume --”</p><p>His hand stills. The power fades.</p><p>You realise your fist is clenched before you.</p><p>
  <em> The power of the pact. </em>
</p><p>His eyes widen. “What are you --”</p><p>You lower your fist, and his arm falls to his side. He almost struggles against it, surprise and anger clouding his face.</p><p>“Don’t touch me,” you repeat, trembling slightly. “Don’t you fucking dare.”</p><p>“You, a mere human, --”</p><p>“Yes! Me.”  Your chest heaves with the effort of keeping him down, but shock is probably what truly keeps him from killing you outright. “I can’t believe that, after all this, you still misunderstand. Is your head still so far up your ass you still think I want to control you? Is that really what you think?" The words flow out in a rush. “You think your brothers offered their servitude, but it was trust. Trust and friendship, that’s what it was. I thought you’d have understood that, after everything.” Your voice cracks. “You still think the pacts are shackles! Let me tell you what: they’re fucking friendship bracelets, Lucifer, because your brothers trusted me enough to know that I would never abuse such a thing.”</p><p>“And you thought it was a list to be crossed off. How about I just wanted your damn friendship? If you didn’t want a pact with me, then you could have just said so, because I sure as hell don’t want a pact with you now.” Your eyes narrow, and you dare to take a step forward.</p><p>Despite himself, Lucifer steps back in the face of your fury.</p><p>“But you just had to feel included, didn’t you? You didn’t want a pact but you couldn’t bear the thought of a human refusing you so you forced it on me like you’re doing me a favour? I don’t want a damn pact with you. I’m not yours, I don’t belong to you, and I dont <em> want </em>you to belong to me.”</p><p>“If you want something, if you don’t want something, then just say so. Fucking ask or say something instead of playing games, Lucifer.”</p><p>You loosen your grip, then glare at him, and notes how he subconsciously grips his own wrist, face still twisted in shock and anger. “I’m done.”</p><p>You turn your back, knowing full well he could kill you in an instant, but you're done caring and a small part of you knows he wouldn’t.</p><p> </p><p>You slam the door shut behind you. Hard.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. compromise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>“I guess? I mean, I’m not insanely angry anymore.” And this is as far as you can force the Avatar of Pride to bend, you suppose; that he came to you at all is proof of his pride's waning influence.</p><p>“And now I understand your sudden penchant for violence,” he flashes a lazy smirk. “Sorry, self-defensive actions.”</p><p>“Do you want me to hit you again?” you threaten.</p><p>“I’m glad there’s to be no bad blood between us,” and the smile he gives now is genuine, pleasant, even. “I don’t think I could bear it if you left us on such a note. I’m glad we had this talk.”</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i hope this comes off as more than just incoherent presumptuous garbage but i am a sucker for resolutions. anyhow, largely unbeta'd, so excuse any mistakes ^^</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This is not how you had envisioned her last day in the Devildom.</p><p>You had assumed it would be a quiet affair, perhaps a few words said over dinner to commemorate the passing of a year; to your success at surviving the exchange program despite the various creatures that threatened your existence, seven of them under this very roof.</p><p>The party in the attic had been a pleasant surprise, one that marked the closeness of the bonds you had made. Never in a million years did you imagine you would become such close companions with the embodiments of the seven deadly sins themselves.</p><p>And never in a million years did you imagine you would end up slapping the strongest of them across the face.</p><p>There had been many things you had done over the past year that would have qualified as a death wish. This one surpassed them all.</p><p>The endless twilight that shrouds the Devildom makes for a poor indication of time, but a glance at her D.D.D. reveals that it’s just past 2AM.</p><p>You lie on the bed in your pyjamas, having overcome your stress just enough to clean up and prepare for sleep.</p><p>Not that it had come. Rather than anxiety over being killed in her sleep, you feels a vague sense of guilt, one that’s squashed down by righteous fear and indignation. Because, really, slaps and insults were all you could do against demons with the power to erase you from existence.</p><p>You lift your hand above your head, making a fist, still feeling the way Lucifer’s fingers had encircled your wrist, not forceful but with an iron grip regardless. You close your eyes, feel the flow of power within you, the pacts you had made with the seven rulers of Hell.</p><p>They couldn’t be dissolved, not without the consent of both parties. </p><p>As much as you wanted to dissolve your pact with Lucifer, you couldn’t. Not if he didn’t wish for it too. Your mood sours at the thought.</p><p>Your hand falls to your side.</p><p>A quiet knock sounds at the door, barely audible despite the silence. You blink, wonders which of the brothers it could be, and you sit up.</p><p>“Come in?”</p><p>When you see Lucifer’s dark hair through the crack in the doorway you scramble off the bed, backing yourself up against the tree at the headboard, growing out of the floor, gripping the ivy running over its surface so tightly you might rip it off.</p><p>“If I wanted to end your life, I wouldn’t have bothered knocking,” he comments disdainfully as he enters. You watch as he shuts the door quietly behind him. He’s out of his demon form now, back in that human disguise, but it doesn’t make him any less intimidating.</p><p>“What do you want?”</p><p>“This is less about what I want, and more about what I feel is my duty. It would be... unbecoming, to say the least, if we were to leave things like this before sending you off to the Human World.”</p><p>“How generous of you,” you say curtly, “but I asked you what you wanted, not what you considered was your job.”</p><p>“On top of it being my duty, what I want is also to fix things between us,” he responds mildly.</p><p>You squint at him.</p><p>“Would you rather I said I wanted to boil you alive, or flay you?”</p><p>“Well... I slapped you.”</p><p>“So you did. And,” he pauses, nearly grimaces, “I’ll admit, it was justified.”</p><p>“Sorry, could you repeat that?”</p><p>“Don’t push your luck.”</p><p>“Several near-death experiences make you gutsy sometimes,” you shoots back. Several beats of silence pass before either of you speak again.</p><p>“I understand that we have had,” he begins delicately, “a misunderstanding between us, so to speak.” You bites back at the urge to be vindictive, and instead let him continue. “I’ll admit, I viewed your pacts as conquests. The plucky new human, making a game out of forging pacts with the highest-ranking demons in Hell. I wondered what your aims were; how you managed to convince my brothers into lending you their power: even Satan, Levi, Belphegor, whom I never imagined would bow their heads to one of your kind.”</p><p>He paces around, stops to face you. “So I allowed it. I thought I would indulge you, and in the end, lend you my power as a parting gift if your aim was just to make pacts with all of us brothers, even after proving to me your... strength. But I had to make it clear that we, or I at least, would not be your pawn for whatever future reason you might have to call on us. I would not simply pledge my servitude to you. But I misunderstood.” Lucifer meets her gaze squarely, as if prompting her to respond.</p><p>“...Thank you for admitting you were wrong, at least,” you mumbles begrudgingly. “And... I’m sorry for hitting you.”</p><p>“I threatened your life on multiple occasions. After mulling it over, considering various ways I could return your blow tenfold, I concluded that you shouldn’t be blamed too much for reacting that way. After all, you are human.” It’s the closest to an apology you’ll ever get.</p><p>You snorts, despite yourself. “Thanks.” You hesitate. “I -- well, maybe I overreacted. But you didn’t have to use your power on me; intimidating me with your horns and four wings was enough.” You give him a pointed look.</p><p>“I suppose so. But would it appease you if I said I thought it necessary?” He lifts an eyebrow. “After all, despite having no magical power to speak of, you managed to issue commands to Mammon. As dull-witted as he is, he is the second eldest, and therefore the second most powerful. If you managed to command a demon such as him, I thought it pertinent to give you a warning should you overstep any boundaries.”</p><p>“I’m going to tell him you complimented him --”</p><p>“If you do that I think I’ll really have to kill you,” he says, and you both smile tightly at each other.</p><p>“I guess can I see where you’re coming from,” you concede reluctantly. “Since you’ve told us about your oath to Diavolo...”</p><p>“That I did not want my leash passing from one hand to another, yes.”</p><p>“...but I was hurt,” you finish, glaring at him, “that you would still think that way. And to think you would go so far as to use your powers on me. You’ve already proven your point about what would happen if I crossed you, another reminder really wasn’t necessary. You could have just told me upfront about how you felt. I told you before: I don’t appreciate you playing games with me.” </p><p>You stares him in the eye, two strong personalities clashing; two bulls butting heads with each other. “I thought you understood me better than that: I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to be friends with all of you, and that entails making sure I never just abuse the pacts. I figured that if you saw how your brothers trusted me like that, to form pacts with me, then you’d trust me too. I never viewed any of you as conquests or possessions.” Her voice hardens. “And I don’t appreciate you flipping the situation on me, like I’m to be some kind of human pet.”</p><p>“I refused anyway,” you frowns, “and you still went through with the pact. I don’t get it.”</p><p>Lucifer shrugs. Barely. “You were right, in some aspects. I still wanted to keep an eye on you, but the other half of it was that your refusal simply angered me.”</p><p>“Not used to being denied, are you?”</p><p>“Solomon, for all his strength, has been vying for the chance to form a pact with me for years. Besides him, there are many who would leap at the chance to share in my power.”</p><p>“I’m special, then,” you say sarcastically.</p><p>“Yes.” Lucifer gives you a meaningful look. “You are.”</p><p>You blink. “Right.”</p><p>“So, have we reached an understanding?”</p><p>“I guess? I mean, I’m not insanely angry anymore.” And this is as far as you can force the Avatar of Pride to bend, you suppose; that he came to you at all is proof of his pride's waning influence.</p><p>“And now I understand your sudden penchant for violence,” he flashes a lazy smirk. “Sorry, self-defensive actions.”</p><p>“Do you want me to hit you again?” you threaten.</p><p>“I’m glad there’s to be no bad blood between us,” and the smile he gives now is genuine, pleasant, even. “I don’t think I could bear it if you left us on such a note. I’m glad we had this talk.”</p><p>“Right. Me too.”</p><p>“But, there’s one last thing to take care of.” You're suddenly aware of him stepping closer, suddenly serious.</p><p>“What is it?” you ask warily.</p><p>“I forced a pact onto you, and maintained it out of spite despite your wishes. But as of late, I am feeling a little more charitable. If you want, I will consent to its removal, and we can both be free of each other.” </p><p>He extends a hand.</p><p>“So, what will it be? Will you dissolve our pact?”</p><p>You glance down, then back up to Lucifer, waiting expectantly for your answer, but otherwise inscrutable. You study his face. He seems genuine enough, but there’s just the slightest hint of hesitance in his expression.</p><p>You reach out... </p><p> </p><p>...and curl his fingers back down, covering his hand with your own. You see his eyes widen, slightly so, and you shake your head, smiling up at him.</p><p>“No, I don’t think I will.”</p>
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